St. Paul police arrested city council candidate David Martinez on Monday morning on suspicion of violating the state’s “revenge porn” law.” But Martinez said Monday that his campaign website had been hacked and he had not posted the photo.

Martinez’s wife confirmed to an investigator that the photo was her, said Steve Linders, a St. Paul police spokesman.

Police arrested Martinez, 38, at about 7:30 a.m. Monday on suspicion of nonconsensual dissemination of private sexual images, a felony.

The case was presented to the Ramsey County attorney’s office for charging consideration and they have requested further investigation, according to an office spokeswoman.

Martinez said Monday, in an interview from the Ramsey County jail, that he would “absolutely” continue his bid for the Ward 4 city council seat.

“Everything that’s happening to me is exactly what I’ve been … calling out,” Martinez said. “If the political machine doesn’t like you, they will silence you.”

Martinez said he went to work at the Minnesota Department of Commerce in downtown St. Paul on Monday morning and retrieved a voicemail his boss left him about 7 a.m. saying his employment had been terminated. He was a project consultant for the department since December.

Martinez was then arrested in the building.

SERIES OF CONFRONTATIONS DOCUMENTED

Martinez’s wife of 13 years, who applied for an order for protection against him Friday, wrote she has “grown increasingly fearful and concerned about David’s behavior and am scared for me and our children. He has become more erratic, verbally abusive and confrontational. I would describe his behavior as ‘unhinged.'”

Martinez said Monday that “half of the things on that document are false.”

Neither Martinez’s wife nor her attorney could be reached for comment Monday.

Martinez’s wife wrote in her affidavit for the protection order that on July 4, at the couple’s St. Paul home, she said something to their 7-year-old “that upset David” and he followed her downstairs, got within 1-2 inches of her face and blocked her way.

“He then put both of his hands around my neck and pushed me backwards into a shelving unit,” the 38-year-old woman wrote, saying he continued to scream at her and pushed her two more times.

Martinez’s wife called 911 and he locked her out of the house, so she couldn’t get back in or to their two children, according to her affidavit. When police arrived, Martinez’s wife was able to leave with their children and they stayed at a relative’s home.

Police said they are investigating the July 4 case.

On July 5, Martinez was arrested at the downtown St. Paul library and cited for disorderly conduct. He said he was sticking up for a teenager who was being unfairly ejected from the library. A St. Paul police report described Martinez as verbally combative toward at least two librarians.

Five days later — last Wednesday — Martinez purchased and brought home several canisters of mace and a pellet gun and “said he will use it against anyone who ‘gets in his face’,” his wife wrote in seeking the order for protection.

“He told me that individuals are threatening him,” she wrote. “I asked if he thought we were in danger of violent acts against us at our own home and he said he thought that we could be.”

Martinez’s ” behavior has continued to escalate over the past 3-4 weeks,” his wife wrote in the court document.

On Friday, Martinez’s wife filed for divorce. Also on Friday, a Ramsey County district court referee granted an emergency order for protection for Martinez’s wife and two children. A hearing is scheduled for this Friday.

MARTINEZ SAYS HE TOLD DOCTOR HE’S FEELING FINE

Martinez said Monday that he was diagnosed with depression in 2014, after he ran unsuccessfully for St. Paul school board the year before.

He said his work is difficult and he knows “you can’t do that kind of work if you’re unhinged, as she calls me in the restraining order.”

On Friday, at his wife’s urging, Martinez said he went to an appointment at a counseling and psychology clinic.

The doctor told him to come back for an in-depth exam “to really determine what’s going on in your brain and I was telling him, ‘Well doc, I feel just fine,’ ” Martinez said.

HE SAYS HE HAD BEEN STAYING OFF SOCIAL MEDIA

On Saturday, a post titled “Transparency” appeared on Martinez’s campaign blog and it began with a photo of a topless woman. The post went on to say Martinez’s wife had filed a restraining order against him and included a copy of it.

Martinez said Monday that he did not write the post and he found out about the photo when one of his friends called him about it Saturday. He said he been staying off social media since about Friday morning because of the amount of negative messages he was receiving.

“It was messing with my head,” Martinez said. “… I was scared. I broke down a couple times, I didn’t know what to do. Just random people, (saying), like, ‘You need to die,’ ‘You need to go away,’ … ‘This is America, we don’t need you here.’ … so I just shut off all my social media, I shut my phone off.”

Martinez’s blog was taken down Sunday. After police were alerted to the photo, the investigator sent two requests to the blog’s host to remove the photo, Linders said.

Police are aware the image may also be visible on social media and “are working to get those taken down as well,” Linders said.

Hennes met with Martinez on Thursday — several days prior to his latest arrest — to “get his assurances he would behave appropriately.” At the time, Martinez assured him he was ready for a civil debate.

Mitra Nelson and Shirley Erstad also will appear on the Aug. 14 ballot.

Mara Gottfried has been a Pioneer Press reporter since 2001, mostly covering public safety. Gottfried lived in St. Paul as a young child and returned to the Twin Cities after graduating from the University of Maryland. You can reach her at 651-228-5262.

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